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Deepcrush wrote:How does your government not know if any of your ships are missing?

Sorry, I was unclear.

The Tal'Shiar may have their own ships. Ships which were never owned by the Romulan military. They may have a hidden construction base. We don't know. This is what we are spending millions trying to find out.


As for the Hurq, we have ceased to concern ourselves in the matter. Without our cloaking devices, we fail to retain our first strike ability. Because of the current weakness of our vessel's defenses, they likely would not get within range before being destroyed.
We also agree with the Klingons on the matter of creating another alliance. Every alliance seems to cause more problems than they solve. Unless an imminent threat appears, we will not be signing.

We are pleased to announce that earlier this morning, Cardassian forces deployed to annex the region of neutrel space boardering Cardassia, the KFI, and the UFP. We will be deploying navigational becons and providing routine patrols to ensure that all shipping and civillian traffic through the area remain safe.

We reassure our neighboring powers, as well as neutrel powers that choose not to involve themselves in galactic affairs that we will continue to respect your established boarders.

Please adjust your starmaps to reflect this region of space is now Cardassian soverign territory.

It is strange finding ourselves agreeing with the Romulan Empire while the new peaceful Cardassians continue to expand their empire. Very strange times indeed.

To the Romulan Empire, while we will hold you accountable for any actions of the Tal'shiar. Also let it be known that our forces on your border will be made open to assist you should you need them.

It is a far cry from annexing neutral and unclaimed space to "expanding our Empire", my friend. If there was anything of note or worth there that anyone wanted, it would have been absorbed long ago, would you say?

Nickswitz wrote:If you would not mind, if and when the Hurq arrive, we would like to send in two of our ships to assist.

If you wish to supply forces for the ABTF you will need to contact the Task Force Commander and inform him of the ships you will be sending a minimum of 6 months in advance of their arrival. If you direct a communication to the Federation Offices I will make sure it finds the right desk.

The FKI would point out that such an acquisition is at this point simply an annexation by fact. We move that the signatories of General Treaty on Trade Rights and Rights in Neutral Space recognize this as an annexation by fact and add it to the international star charts to prevent any incidents from arising in the region due to misunderstandings by trade vessels.

We also move for a vote on the issue of fully recognizing this annexation by the signatories. At this time we withhold our vote while we are reviewing our position on the matter.

Mark wrote:It is a far cry from annexing neutral and unclaimed space to "expanding our Empire", my friend. If there was anything of note or worth there that anyone wanted, it would have been absorbed long ago, would you say?

Expansion is expansion, regardless of the reasons or excuses behind it. Don't worry, the Empire isn't judging you. Its hardly our concern but that of the KFI. Its their border afterall. *The Klingon Ambassador breaks out in a roaring laugh*

As the area in question is simply neutral space with little-to-nothing of value, the claimed space does not infringe upon the sovereign borders of any territory, and the CU has an open policy that will allow this annexation to occur without any alterations of trade routs or envoys the Federation votes to recognize the addition to the CU.

We will support the recognition of annexation by fact.

We also see little reason why not to support their full control of the region.

We have no objection to this.

We have no fundamental objection to this particular territorial adjustment, however we believe it sets a dangerous precedent. Allowing powers to claim large swaths of neutral space that are neither near planets nor installations of that power seems like it has the potential to place a large restriction on exploration and trade and strikes us as somewhat of a batardization of the idea of territorial space to begin with.

For example if the FKI were to come here and claim all space directly South of our position for 200 light years distance that would functionally not be different. Now we have no ambition for such territory (neutral territory is of little value and is simply something that must be defended) but we are hesitant to endorse the idea behind concepts such as this where a power grabs a large patch of unimproved and unoccupied territry for now reason other than to appear larger on a map.

We believe that were everyone to start doing this it would likely lead to unnecessary restrictions on trade and exploration.

For example what if the Federation were to claim all space around the Teuri Assembly? Or the Breen or Romulans claimed all the space around the Shelliak?

We strongly encourage all powers to link any claims to additional territory to a rational security and organizational need to avoid this sort of nonsense and we ask the Cardassian Union to state its reasoning for expanding its borders since as far as our delegation can determine it serves no rational security purpose not already existant from the present state of the borders before we can cast a final vote.

We certainly want to be reasonable and accomodating to any security needs that the Cardassian Union reference but are unaware that any security threat existed in that region that would necessitate such action. Again, we hope to find more clarity in an additional statement on this matter before we voice a final opinion.

We will be happy to explain our reasoning.

A. This is a relatively small swatch of space, and one that we can easily incorporate into the Union's sphere of influence, as well as one that we can realistically provide security coverage for.

B. By reducing the amount of overall neutral space boardering the Union, we reduce the number of launching points for an invasion from a hostile power. They would either have to pass through the space of a neighbor (two of which are neutral, one is an ally, one we have a good working relationship with, and the last with whom relations are improving.) or completely circle the entire sector to try and come at us from an unguarded angle.

C. By incorporating this area of space, which is along trade routes, we ensure the saftey of commercial shipping for all powers in the area as well as our own.

D. I don't see how or why increasing the holding of a power is nessessarily a detrimental thing. We all started with our homeworlds, and slowly expanded, encompassing neutral space to form our space now. This swath of space is one we can easily control, with ships and logistical support. And quite honestly, has remainted neutral long enough that anyone that wanted it could have laid claim to it years ago.

In light of recent event, the Klingon Empire has annexed the Canopus System and the space around it. This area has long been a Klingon outpost but now lies in a bulge of our space. This will remove the bulge and prevent anyone from mistakenly putting their ships next to our space.

In that case, we will pull our science vessels out immediately. We were conducting research on several anomalies in the area.

If the Romulan Empire wishes to continue their efforts then they may. So long as they first sign a Non-Aggression Treaty with the Klingon Empire and limit their actions to matters of science and exploration.